SOUN vs AAPL Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
SOUN and AAPL are both in voice AI but at completely different scales. SoundHound is a $1-2B market cap pure-play voice AI company targeting restaurant and automotive verticals. Apple is a $3T technology giant with Siri on 1.3B+ devices and Apple Intelligence as an iPhone upgrade catalyst. SoundHound is a speculative small-cap AI bet; Apple is the world's largest company with AI as a product catalyst.
SOUN vs AAPL — SoundHound AI (the pure-play voice AI specialist targeting restaurant ordering automation and automotive embedded voice systems as an independent platform not tied to Apple/Google) versus Apple (the $3T consumer technology platform embedding Apple Intelligence across 1.3B devices while monetizing through iPhone upgrade cycles and $100B+ Services revenue).
SOUN and AAPL are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly. AAPL has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+52.33% vs -24.42%), though SOUN trades at the lower forward P/E (-59.33x vs 30.34x). Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for SOUN (+96.63%) than for AAPL (+7.41%).
- →want pure-play voice AI exposure in restaurant automation and automotive embedded voice — direct beneficiary of restaurant labor cost inflation driving AI ordering adoption
- →believe SoundHound's independence from big tech is a competitive moat for enterprise and automotive customers concerned about Apple/Google ecosystem lock-in
- →seek high-risk small-cap AI upside — SoundHound at $1-2B market cap could re-rate significantly if restaurant and automotive deployments scale to mass adoption
- →are comfortable with persistent operating losses, big-tech voice AI competition risk, and the possibility SoundHound remains niche rather than achieving profitability at scale
- →prefer the world's most valuable company with 1.3B+ device installed base deploying Apple Intelligence as an AI-driven upgrade catalyst for iPhone hardware replacement cycles
- →value Apple's $100B+ Services recurring revenue providing predictable high-margin revenue regardless of quarterly iPhone unit variability
- →want AI exposure through the world's largest consumer technology platform with proven ability to monetize innovation across its massive installed base
- →are comfortable with Siri's historical voice AI quality gap vs competitors and China market share risk from Huawei re-emergence in the premium smartphone segment
| Metric | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 23.1 | 62.7 |
| AI rank | #3744 | #90 |
| Latest close | $7.12 | $298.01 |
| 1M return | -15.74% | -0.32% |
| 6M return | -35.21% | +9.63% |
| 1Y return | -24.42% | +52.33% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $7.56K (-24.4%) started 2025-06-18 | $15.16K (+51.6%) started 2025-06-18 |
| 5Y ago | $9.49K (-5.1%) started 2022-04-28 | $23.52K (+135.2%) started 2021-06-21 |
| 10Y ago | $9.49K (-5.1%) started 2022-04-28 | $150.58K (+1405.8%) started 2016-06-20 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $3.08B | $4.28T |
| Trailing P/E | N/A | 35.20 |
| Forward P/E | -59.33 | 30.34 |
| Price/Sales | 16.75 | 11.01 |
| EV/Revenue | 15.40 | 9.51 |
| Analyst target | $14.00 | $312.72 |
| Target upside | +96.63% | +7.41% |
| Metric | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 51.70% | 16.60% |
| Earnings growth | N/A | 21.80% |
| EPS growth | N/A | +21.80% |
| FCF margin | -9.07% | +22.39% |
| Operating margin | N/A | 32.27% |
| Profit margin | -91.84% | 27.15% |
| ROIC proxy | -39.40% | 141.47% |
| Return on equity | -39.40% | 141.47% |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 0.37% |
| Beta | 2.73 | 1.09 |
| Debt/equity | 1.35 | 79.55 |
| Current ratio | 3.94 | 1.07 |
| Quick ratio | 3.80 | 0.91 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | -24.42% | +51.60% |
| CAGR | -24.43% | +51.69% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.01 | 1.76 | |
| Max drawdown | 72.43% | 13.82% | |
| Max daily drop | 11.57% | 5.00% | |
| Max wkly drop | 26.06% | 8.03% | |
| 5Y | Growth | -5.07% | +130.17% |
| CAGR | -1.25% | +18.17% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.58 | 0.58 | |
| Max drawdown | 93.55% | 33.36% | |
| Max daily drop | 48.36% | 9.25% | |
| Max wkly drop | 55.81% | 22.75% | |
| 10Y | Growth | -5.07% | +1271.08% |
| CAGR | -1.25% | +29.95% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.58 | 0.90 | |
| Max drawdown | 93.55% | 38.52% | |
| Max daily drop | 48.36% | 12.86% | |
| Max wkly drop | 55.81% | 22.75% |
| Category | SOUN | AAPL |
|---|---|---|
| Company | SoundHound AI, Inc. | Apple Inc. |
| Sector | AI Software | Technology |
| Industry | N/A | Consumer Electronics |
| Core business | SoundHound AI is a voice AI company providing conversational intelligence solutions for restaurants, automotive, and enterprise customers. SoundHound's Dynamic Interaction technology enables complex multi-turn voice commands for drive-through ordering, in-car assistant systems, and enterprise voice applications. Restaurant automation is the fastest-growing vertical, driven by labor cost pressures accelerating AI ordering. SoundHound has partnerships with Hyundai, Honda, Stellantis, and restaurant chains. The company operates at a loss with significant R&D investment. | Apple is the world's most valuable company ($3T+ market cap) with flagship products including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods. Apple Intelligence — Apple's on-device AI platform integrated across iOS 18 — powers enhanced Siri, text generation, image creation, and cross-app AI actions. Apple's Services segment ($100B+ annual revenue) includes App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Siri processes hundreds of millions of voice requests daily across 1.3+ billion active Apple devices. |
| Investor focus | Investors track SoundHound's restaurant AI deployment pipeline, automotive OEM contract wins, ARPU from royalty models, and path to profitability as a pure-play voice AI small-cap. | Investors focus on Apple's iPhone upgrade supercycle driven by Apple Intelligence hardware requirements, Services revenue growth, gross margin expansion from software mix, and India manufacturing diversification. |
- →Restaurant AI ordering tailwind: labor inflation and minimum wage increases accelerate restaurant chain adoption of AI ordering systems — SoundHound is deployed at Chipotle, White Castle, and others
- →Automotive embedded voice: SoundHound's in-car voice AI is embedded in vehicles from multiple OEMs — automotive royalty revenue provides recurring cash flow as new models ship
- →Independence from big tech: SoundHound's independence from Apple, Google, and Amazon means automotive and enterprise customers prefer it for privacy and licensing control reasons
- →1.3B+ active device installed base: Apple's distribution for voice AI via Siri is unmatched — Siri is the default voice assistant on every iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch globally
- →Apple Intelligence on-device privacy: on-device AI processing is a differentiated privacy positioning valued by enterprise and privacy-conscious consumers vs cloud-dependent alternatives
- →Services $100B+ recurring revenue: software and services generate high-margin recurring revenue with low churn — reducing dependence on hardware replacement cycles
- →Competing against Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa: SoundHound competes in voice AI against companies with billion-user distribution, enormous R&D budgets, and device lock-in
- →Persistent operating losses: SoundHound has not achieved profitability — sustained losses create dilution risk and balance sheet uncertainty
- →Revenue concentration in cyclical verticals: restaurant technology adoption is cyclical — economic slowdowns can delay AI ordering deployments and reduce royalty revenue
- →Siri quality lag vs competitors: Apple's Siri has been criticized for inferior voice AI vs Google Assistant and ChatGPT — Apple Intelligence aims to close the gap but faces catch-up risk
- →iPhone volume plateauing in mature markets: North American and European iPhone penetration is high — growth requires upgrading existing users via AI features rather than net new buyers
- →China market competition from Huawei: Huawei's re-emergence with 5G phones has challenged Apple's China market share — a key revenue geography
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